Assessing Your Potential

In the early years of a budding career, a young professional should always be aware of what he wants and what his current company can offer. After all, his career depends on it. Since a big chunk of long-term career happiness is based on continued advancement, job challenges and goal attainment, one wants to be associated with a company that offers all of these things and more.

So how do you know whether your company is going to be a late bloomer or an eventual bust? The answer lies in a thoughtful analysis of your own needs and how your company is meeting them — or not meeting them. If the answers are positive, you're on the right track. If things don't look very good, you can start over elsewhere and possibly save yourself years of wasted time.

Let's take a close look at the important questions to consider when assessing your potential.

Does your lifestyle suit your aspirations?

You won't be able to properly assess whether your company's potential will please you if you aren't fully aware of your current lifestyle and what you want down the road. This is your chance to self-analyze and bring your goals into focus.

You can start by thinking about your ideal job: What is the career you want more than anything else? Now, give some thought to your current lifestyle and its associated pros and cons: What would you like to change and what are you prepared to change? Dollars are one thing, but in order to increase your revenue and move up, think about your current time commitments and how they might be altered. How will this affect others around you? Change isn't something to fear, but you need to be prepared for it. Your career aspirations should go hand in hand with your lifestyle demands. Keep this in mind and consider whether the current jobs offered at your company fall in line with your future plans.

What kind of worker are you?

Your work habits play a key role in determining your employability within the field of your ideal job. Anyone can reach for the stars, but if you don't want to fly a spaceship, you won't get very far. To get more out of your job, it's essential to study your personality and your interests and assess what's realistic.

Think about your life and what makes you happy — your passions, your memorable moments — and figure out how many of those come from work. In addition to that, be sure to list your likes and dislikes, as well as your strengths and weaknesses when it comes to work. What do you see? Are your current job and your present company offering you the necessary challenges to feel successful and content? Are your job duties taking advantage of your strengths and minimizing your weaknesses? Is your perfect job a suitable match or is it out of your range?

A healthy understanding of your work habits and your career values will help you make a more precise analysis of the worker that you are and whether your goals within the company are realistic. If they aren't, you need to adjust them based on who you are and what you hope to achieve in the long run.

Is there growth within the company?

You might be a driven individual with all the right ideas, but the company ladder is only available for climbing if internal growth is present within the organization. That's why you need to keep tabs on whether your company is moving in a healthy direction. Why is growth important? For career-climbers, growing companies are ideal because they offer a higher degree of advancement. A company with a solid bottom line will be open to more ideas and opening new positions because they have the financial strength to do so.